Only Celiacs Are Affected By Gluten - :BSFlag:

[tex]

Hi All,

We've all heard that only someone who is actually gluten-sensitive is affected by gluten, and most of us have even repeated that statement ourselves, many times, because it seems logical, at face value. Unfortunately, it's not true.

It turns out that everyone, (and I do mean everyone), is affected to some extent. The difference is that celiacs, (or anyone more sensitive than normal), have more severe reactions to it. This observation rewrites the book on dealing with gluten in the human diet, because obviously, it causes a measurable adverse reaction in everyone.

RESULTS: When exposed to gliadin, zonulin receptor-positive IEC6 and Caco2 cells released zonulin in the cell medium with subsequent zonulin binding to the cell surface, rearrangement of the cell cytoskeleton, loss of occludin-ZO1 protein-protein interaction, and increased monolayer permeability. Pretreatment with the zonulin antagonist FZI/0 blocked these changes without affecting zonulin release. When exposed to luminal gliadin, intestinal biopsies from celiac patients in remission expressed a sustained luminal zonulin release and increase in intestinal permeability that was blocked by FZI/0 pretreatment. Conversely, biopsies from non-celiac patients demonstrated a limited, transient zonulin release which was paralleled by an increase in intestinal permeability that never reached the level of permeability seen in celiac disease (CD) tissues. Chronic gliadin exposure caused down-regulation of both ZO-1 and occludin gene expression.

CONCLUSIONS: Based on our results, we concluded that gliadin activates zonulin signaling irrespective of the genetic expression of autoimmunity, leading to increased intestinal permeability to macromolecules.

How about that? This research was published 5 years ago, and how much difference has it made in attitudes in medical circles? Doctors are a hard-headed bunch, aren't they. They just ignore research that they don't want to acknowledge.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16635908

Clearly, no one should be eating gluten, regardless of whether or not it causes clinical symptoms at the moment. It's a form of poison for everyone.

At least that's how I see it.

Tex

[natythingycolbery]

I agree with you Tex, but tbh, people know things like McDonalds are bad for their health and the still go and eat it.

I think unless the majority of people have a sudden change in mentality, nothing is going to happen :/

[ant]

unless the majority of people have a sudden change in mentality,

IMHO that will happen when the majority of opinion leaders (or opinion gatekeepers) have a change of mentality. There are two types of opinion leaders: doctors and empowered patients (like us) for whom it is, literally, a-life-or-death struggle to get to the truth.

Who will the majority of people believe?

Best, ant

[sarkin]

Clearly, no one should be eating gluten, regardless of whether or not it causes clinical symptoms at the moment. It's a form of poison for everyone.
Tex

Tex, I completely agree. It makes sense to me that gluten would affect some people more severely than others, some people later in life than others, and maybe some people have the genetic and other luck to outlive accumulated gluten damage - or will have annoying rather than debilitating symptoms, like moderately itchy skin. I see gluten as a ticking bomb, and am trying not to beg my loved ones to stop, because I'm pretty sure how that will turn out ;)

I am grateful for the products of civilization and agriculture - but it's interesting how much our world depends on this cheap, readily available, storable form of not-great nutrition. There's a huge investment - not just economic - in the idea of the 'staff of life.'

Sara

[sarkin]

Tex,

The more I think about it, the more I'm just gobsmacked by the implications. The very fact that this hasn't rippled like mad through research & clinical practice is - well, it's kind of astonishing. I am trying not to forward that link to everyone I know, under the subject heading "this means you."

It sounds as though gluten tolerance may be a quirk of zonulin emission. Perhaps even a 'deficiency' of some sort. (Yeah, I know, that's beyond a wild leap.) But that could be just the sort of mutation that made an agricultural lifestyle possible. (Wilder leap still.)

Sara

[tex]

Sara,

Gobsmacked is how I feel, too. When I first found that abstract, I couldn't believe it - I had to read it twice. The same thoughts flashed across my brain, "how in the world could such a research report have been around for so many years, and I had never heard of it before?". Not even a hint.

Notice that the report has Dr. Fasano's name on it. Now we all know that Dr. Fasano, (like most researchers), likes to have his name out there to show that he is a prolific researcher, (it does wonders for one's career), and obviously he did publish this work, so we can't accuse him of hiding this discovery, by sweeping it under the rug. But wait a minute - look where he published it - The Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology. What th'. . . ? Why on earth did he pick that one? Did he think that few people would notice the article and read it? If so, he probably thought right. LOL.

A year or two ago, he wrote an impressive article that was published in the Scientific American. IOW, instead of just publishing in scientific journals, that are only read by doctors and other researchers, he took his information to the general public. But did he make even one tiny mention of the discovery described in the article that we're discussing here? Nope, not a word. Hmmmmmm. Why not?

So for the past 5 years, this esteemed researcher has been failing to publicize the idea that virtually everyone may be subject to an adverse response to gluten, in the form of a weakened state of the tight junctions in their gut, which as he speculated in the article, may lead to "increased intestinal permeability to macromolecules". The net effect of his decision to not bring that discovery to the attention of as many people in the world as possible, means that millions of people, world wide, may be continuing to accrue damage to their tight junctions, while thinking that they are perfectly safe from that risk. Of course, many of them probably would have ignored the risk anyway, even if he had pointed it out, but certainly not everyone would have, and many people would have started to think about it, and talk about it. We all know that the public is not as tight-lipped as the medical community, about issues such as this. Now I'm not suggesting that he had some sort of sinister plan in mind, but in the real world, every action has a reaction. I have no idea why he omitted that information in an article that was supposed to be a description of the "state of the art" of current celiac research, but he did. This is probably related to his decision to deny the existence of non-celiac gluten-sensitivity, until just this past year. Maybe this was part of a butt-covering routine.

What do you want to bet that soon after his team gets FDA approval to market their product to suppress zonulin production, publicizing the discovery in that "obscure" research article will suddenly become a high-priority item? IOW, by releasing this information to coincide with the availability of their new product, the market potential will be maximized - everyone who eats wheat will be a consumer target, and a brand new product designed specifically to address the issue will be available. Many people will go for it, because everything will come together, at just the right time. It doesn't get any better than that, in the marketing world does it, especially when you're dealing with a concept that many view as a "fad", (strike while the iron is hot, and all that good stuff)?

Maybe I'm just jumping to conclusions, here, but I've been wondering what he was really up to for so many years, and the picture is finally beginning to come into focus.



Tex

[sarkin]

You know, he's a gut guy. Someone out there may be working on a similar approach to symptoms that appear because the blood-brain barrier is compromised by zonulin. Now we know what celiacs, migraine sufferers, and many many other autoimmune folks have in common. Being human ;)

It's such a hallmark of the way the world thinks these days that zonulin is the bad guy. Zonulin may originally have been rushing to the defense of the organism, saying, whoa, stop eating that stuff! (That, by the way, leads me to another wild rush of speculation, about the circumstances in which celiac genes might have conferred some advantage... somewhere, sometime in our history. But more likely, they're more like the default setting, and the ability to tolerate some gluten via this 'limited, transient zonulin release' started as a lucky variant made more prevalent by agricultural development.)

[grannyh]

If the government were to decide that all grains need to be turned into fuel.. his article would make headlines showing how bad grains are for us....:)
grannyh

[mbeezie]

Oh wow - just read this Tex. Amazing! I have always thought gluten was bad for all, but now this confirms it. He is sooooooo hiding this info until it is timely for him to release it. I am gobsmacked as well.

What pharmaceutical will be manufacturing his drug? I want a piece of that pie for sure!!

Mary Beth

[sarkin]

Now we have to worry some genius doesn't decide the new magic potion belongs in the water supply ;0

Sara

[tex]

Mary Beth,

The company that he and his investors formed is called Alba Therapeutics Corporation. But the money is already pouring in:

FRAZER, Pa., -- Cephalon, Inc. (Nasdaq: CEPH) and Alba Therapeutics Corporation, a privately held biopharmaceutical company, today announced that the companies have signed an agreement providing Cephalon with an option to purchase all of Alba's assets relating to larazotide acetate, a tight junction modulator, progressing toward a Phase IIb clinical trial for the treatment of celiac disease. Under the terms of the option agreement, Cephalon will pay Alba a $7 million upfront option payment and will provide a credit facility to fund Alba's Phase IIb clinical trial expenses for larazotide acetate.

Cephalon may exercise its option at any time prior to the expiration of a specified period after receipt of the final study report for the Phase IIb clinical trial. If Cephalon exercises its option, the company will purchase Alba's assets for $15 million. Alba could receive additional payments related to regulatory and sales milestones.

http://baltimore.citybizlist.com/1/2011 ... ction.aspx

Tex

[grannyh]

As my hubby always says.... FOLLOW THE MONEY... no matter what you are talking about...
grannyh

[MaggieRedwings]

Frazer PA and the company are just about 2 miles from me.

Maggie

[Zizzle]

My FIL wants to invest in the company. If the drug works, and people start recognizing gluten sensitivity in IBS and other conditions, it has the potential to eclipse statins in sales!

[tex]

It appears to be a pretty sound investment. Especially since most people seem to prefer to take pills, rather than to change their diet, and you know that doctors will be much more inclined to treat non-celiac gluten-sensitivity, if they can do it by writing a prescription. Besides, it shouldn't have any Draconian side effects, so doctors will assume that there's nothing to lose by trying it.

Tex